narrator · The narrator is anonymous but fairly biased. The narrator’s views often
coincide with Harper’s social and political platforms.

point of view · The third-person, omniscient narrator relays and comments on various
characters’ personal histories, thoughts, motivations, and actions. The narrator
not only reports events in the novel but also delves into the inner psyche of
some of the main characters, including Iola, Dr. Gresham, and
Harry.

tone · The tone is sympathetic, contemplative, instructional, optimistic, and
at times bitter or caustic, especially in those chapters that read more like
political and social commentary or speeches. Harper directly opposes slavery,
promotes equal rights for blacks, and teaches the reader to adopt these views.

tense · The tense frequently shifts from present to past as Harper employs the
literary technique of flashback as a plot device.

setting (time) · While Harper does not specify particular dates, the novel occurs during
the Civil War (1861–1865) and the post-war Reconstruction period (1865–1877).

setting (place) · The novel takes place in various locales, including North Carolina,
Mississippi, Maine, Ohio, undisclosed cities in the North, and unspecified
states involved in Civil War battles.

protagonist · Iola Leroy

major conflict · Iola, a mulatta, struggles to understand and define her racial
identity. Society’s perception of blacks as unequal to whites shapes her inner
conflict.

rising action · Iola’s parents raise her to believe she is white, but her mulatta
identity is exposed when her wicked uncle, Lorraine, manipulates her father’s
will and sells her, her mother, and her siblings into slavery.

climax · The conflict of masking and uncovering identity comes to a climax when
Iola first refuses to marry Dr. Gresham, a white man, because the white race is
responsible for the institution of slavery and the subsequent fracturing of
Iola’s family. While she continues to grapple with her identity, Iola begins to
align herself with the black race and affirm her black roots, generating her
path toward self-realization.

falling action · Eventually, Iola definitively asserts herself as a black woman whose
goal is to advocate on behalf of her race in order to foster equal rights and
racial uplift within the black community.

themes · The double oppression of race and gender; biological vs. social origins
of race

motifs · The contrast of darkness and light; the Christian religion; literacy
and authorship

symbols · Birthmarks; natural imagery; Aunt Linda

foreshadowing · Marie speculates that Lorraine will betray the family by selling her
and her children into slavery. The images of darkness that shroud Marie’s home
symbolize this dire prediction. Aunt Linda’s clairvoyant visions foreshadow the
end of slavery as well as blacks’ transcendence beyond oppression toward
attaining civil rights.